6 THINGS WITH SOPHIA AGUIÑAGA

6 Things with Sophia Aguiñaga Interior Designer + Artist

Based in Oakland, Sophia is an interior designer and artist. Her interior design is expressive, meaningful and a true conversation starter. Sophia surrounds herself with pieces that inspire and has built the ultimate sanctuary with her work being featured on Apartment Therapy. Sophia is also a dedicated activist. She's written and spoken on a philosophy she calls anti-supremacy, and she puts it into action as founder of the nonprofit We Are Tomorrow's Ancestors. Her activism broadly centers healing with and within Black and Indigenous communities and uprooting our learned and inherited supremacist tendencies.

1. What started it all for you?

I've been drawn to beauty since I was young. It's taken many forms - singing, dancing, poetry, instruments, philosophy, spoken word, photography, performance. Art is introspection - the process of revealing yourself to yourself - and introspection is healing. During the height of the pandemic in 2020, like many, I felt an urgent need for healing but was very limited in options.

Spending so much time at home, mostly secluded, my home became my canvas. After sharing my space with others, friends and family started asking for help with their spaces and I saw an opportunity to do for them what I'd done for myself. To, hopefully, offer others a sense of sanctuary in their homes while so much calamity has been taking place beyond us. I've poured myself into learning as much as I could about interior design over the last two years. I'm still humbly learning, but so excited to say that Sophia Emilia Design has taken off and I'm working every day to catch up to what lies ahead.

2. What drives your creative spark?

A philosopher at heart, I find my inspiration in my own and others' interior worlds. The visions they hold in their hearts of the world they believe is possible. As James Allen puts it in As A Man Thinketh, "Cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts, for out of them will grow all delightful conditions, all heavenly environment; of these, if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built." What inspires me is discovering that world and then making it real, brick by brick, and hopefully bringing people closer to themselves through design.

3. Most treasured home decor item?

My most cherished item is my wooden "weeping Buddha" statue. I'm drawn to what the form of the statue indicates - it's called weeping Buddha because people assume the figure's face is buried in their hands because they're weeping. I like to imagine that the figure could be laughing, playing hide and seek, embarrassed, resting, shy, or weeping. I love how humans project emotions and ideas onto objects and this piece is so versatile.

4. What’s the best advice you've ever received?

Don't create for a target market or follow some trend. Tell the truth. Tell the whole truth and hold nothing back. If your art tells the truth, whether yours or some grander collective truth, people will always resonate with it because human beings are searching for truth.

5. It's 5 o'clock at home. What would you be pouring?

During the cold months I'm sipping homemade lemon and ginger tea. Boil water with slices of lemon and fresh ginger, pour it into a cup (I filter mine with a sieve), and add your favorite local honey. It's simple, warming, and clarifying.

6. What are your favorite 6 accounts that you follow for inspiration?

@kehindewiley - Kehinde Wiley
@indiamahdavi - India Mahdavi
@thelpcreative - LP Creative Design
@studiolondonco - Studio London Co.
@denisseaps - Denisse Ariana Pérez
@brigetteromanek - Brigette Romanek

SHOP SOPHIA'S 6 HOME PICKS

Paper Mache Lamp $350

Vigan Sculpture $33

Marble Table $1700

Letters of Fear & Love $15

Courtly Check Sheep $298

Strange House Art $250

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"Don't create for a target market or follow some trend. Tell the truth. Tell the whole truth and hold nothing back. If your art tells the truth, whether yours or some grander collective truth, people will always resonate with it because human beings are searching for truth." -Sophia Aguiñaga